Earthenware tile with a monster
mask

Most of the buildings in ancient China were
made of wood, and so have perished. Brick pagodas are an exception.
Although they do not survive well, a number of crumbling, unadorned
pagodas of the Tang dynasty (618-906) and the Song dynasty
(960-1279) can still be seen around the Chinese
countryside.

One of the
best preserved and most interesting is the Red Pagoda at the
Xiuding temple near Anyang, in Henan province. It was built in the
fifth century and restored in the seventh by the Tang Emperor
Taizong (reigned 626-49). The pagoda still has a large amount of
earthenware brickwork decorated in
relief.

This rectangular
tile was fired in reduction. Reduction firing removes oxygen from
the atmosphere in the kiln, affecting the colour and hardness of
the ceramic. In this case the reduction has given the tile a grey
colour. After firing, the tile was coloured in a red pigment,
traces of which remain. It came from the topmost row of tiles, just
under the eaves of the pagoda.